It Just Kind of Happened
by christina12795
Summary: Set after the mid-season finale of Season 4. Beth saved Judith before Daryl got out of the prison with her. Beth finally gets up the courage to do what she's always wanted to do, but nothing is ever quite what it seems. What happens when the world goes to shit and you're stuck with Daryl Dixon? Rated M for Dixon language and some very adult content. Reviews and advice please!
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this is my first fic on here, and I didn't get the memo to add a little note about my story up here until now. So here it is. :) Set after the mid-season 4 finale, Beth is able to grab Judith and run from the prison with Daryl. She finally gets up the courage to do what she's always wanted to do, but nothing is ever quite as simple as it looks. A lot of crazy things happen, and I'm really just going with my gut and writing as I go. So, if there is something you don't like, I'm sorry. But I am glad that you took the time to read my story up until the part that made you upset, and I hope that you will stay faithfully with me, as any good story has all sorts of unexpected twists and turns. Reviews and advice are always appreciated. Thank you so much, my wonderful readers. 3**

BETH'S POV

Judith was growing hungrier and fussier by the hour. When we had to run, I had a backpack full of supplies, diapers and formula, but that only lasted us two days. She could only go a few days without that formula, and we were coming up on three days without it. Daryl and I were scouring the outskirts of a nearby town infested with walkers for any scraps of food that we could find when Daryl spotted the tree house. It was enormous! It must have been a rich neighborhood because this tree house was bigger than our whole cell block back at the prison. _The prison. _I didn't even know how long it had been since the fall. A week, maybe more? We searched every day for any sign of the others: Maggie, Rick, Carol. We tried to find a permanent place to stay, but every camp we found was overrun by walkers within hours of finding it.

Daryl jumped up and grabbed the tattered rope ladder and untangled it from the intertwining branches. I couldn't help but admire the way that his back muscles flexed underneath his leather angel-winged vest. When I caught myself staring, I quickly busied myself adjusting Judith's onesie. _He wouldn't even be interested in me. We're living in the apocalypse, for goodness's sake. That's probably the last thing on his mind anyway. _I hoped my blush would go unnoticed, but I swear I saw a quick mix of confusion and amusement cross his expression.

"Dammit!" Daryl exclaimed as he cut himself on a branch._ Real classy. That's Daryl for you._ He yanked the ladder down and stepped aside for me. "Ladies first. Lemme take Ass Kicker, and I'll hand her up to you when you get in there and check it out," he said, always the gentleman. I hoisted myself up and checked the house for walkers quickly before sounding the all-clear and taking Judith from Daryl. He gathered the ladder up and, despite his knowing that I'd been training for the last six months on how to deal with walkers, he still put me behind him in that protective way as we explored the house. It was in pretty good shape, considering the circumstances. There were two rooms, one with an old couch and another with a rickety bunk bed. In the corner of the bedroom I spotted something square and colorful: a toy box! I opened it and cleaned out the cobwebs. There were a few salvageable items: a plastic train engine, a rattle, and a beat up wooden doll. Judy didn't even know what to do with them; she'd never had a toy in her life, being born into the apocalypse and all. She caught on fast, and she smiled for the first time in at least a week.

I took Judith out to the front porch to play, so Daryl could fix up the room. We walked back in to see two little bed frames with thin mattresses. "I figure I'll take the couch and you and little Ass Kicker can sleep in here. Can cut off some good branches to make one into a crib for her. I'm gonna go out and see if I can't find us so damn food around here," Daryl said gruffly.

"But it's gonna be dark soon," I protested, "Why don't you just go in the morning? We can last one more night."

"I'll just be around the block. I'll be back soon."

"Okay. Just be careful."

"Always am."

I set Judith down with her new toys and gathered up the ladder after Daryl. Then I set to work cutting off some thin branches for the makeshift crib.

DARYL'S POV

Honestly, as cool as killing walkers can be, it gets pretty old. I cleared out the first house, but all I found were some expired jars of peanut butter and canned walnuts. I took one jar of each. _I'll ask Beth about what's good to eat. She's smart about that stuff._ The next house had a blanket that would be good for Jude. As an afterthought, I grabbed a handful of clothes from the master closet that would probably fit Beth. I had made it a point not to look at her body; I mean, she was like, 15 years younger than me, for fuck's sake. But I couldn't help thinking lately that she really had grown into a good-looking girl.

Lost in thought, I didn't hear the low groan of the walker until it was right behind me. I spun around and shot it in the skull in less than one second. I reached down and wrenched the arrow from the corpse's forehead and looked up straight into the rotting eyes of 3 more walkers. "Shit!" I yelled. I backed up into the nearest house and slammed the door, shoving a chair under the handle. Looking out the window, I swore again, and stared at the herd coming straight for this house; there had to be at least 80 walkers out there. The door wouldn't hold long, so I ran upstairs to look for another way out. There was a balcony at the back of the house, and from here I could see the yard where our tree house was. It was a good 15 feet to the ground if I jumped. The walkers hadn't gotten to this side of the house yet, so it looked like my only option right now.

Now, I'm not exactly an educated man, but I knew that I wasn't about to land on my feet from this high. So I backed up, and ran off the edge, trying to hit the ground and roll. Didn't happen that way. I landed straight on my right shoulder; the razor sharp tips of the arrows from my crossbow cut into my back, and my face got smashed into the ground. I got up and walked a few feet, making sure my legs weren't messed up. Then I ran like hell to the tree house, hoping to not get noticed by the walkers. I whistled for Beth when I got close to the tree house, and she ran out and dropped the ladder, worry and confusion in her face.

"Oh my God Daryl, what happened?!" She asked, taking in my bleeding and bruising face.

"There's a herd coming through, get inside now!" I told her. She grabbed Judith and we hid in the darkest corner of the house until we heard the group pass by us. As soon as it was safe, Beth got our first aid kit. To say it was crappy would be a compliment. We had like, four band aids, a bee sting thing, some gauze, and a half-empty bottle of antibiotic cream. She wiped that shit all over my face, even though I'm pretty sure I didn't even get cut up too bad.

"Listen girl. It's my shoulder that's messed up. I need you to put it back in place," I told her.

"Okay, lay down on the bed," she said without a second's hesitation. _Damn she's tough. She really is her father's daughter._ Hershel was a great man; we didn't have time to mourn because as soon as the Governor killed him all hell broke loose. "Alright, I'm sure you know this, but this is gonna hurt." I rolled my eyes; of course I knew that. Living with my father for 20 some years, I had to learn how to put my own shoulders back into place after the first few trips to the ER. It was a lot easier than explaining to the nurses that I'd "fallen down the stairs" for the third time in 2 weeks. "And I'm sorry," she added. Beth's compassion amazed me again; how someone could be so caring and emotional in a world where emotions are a dangerous thing was crazy to me. I looked into her eyes as she pushed my arm up and out. "1, 2…3." Pain stabbed through my whole upper body, and I swore.

"There. All better," Beth said.

"Uh, thanks," I said awkwardly. Her hand was still on my arm, and she was so close that I could smell the faint layer of sweat and dirt on her. "Well, I guess we should finish the crib huh?" I said to break the silence.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess," Beth answered with a nervous chuckle.

We made Ass Kicker's crib, and by the time we were done she was ready for bed. I gave her the new blanket I found, and Beth fed her a few spoonfuls of the expired peanut butter before she put her down. I went out to take a piss and when I came back into the living room, Beth was huddled up next to our little lantern eating canned walnuts. I sat down next to her and picked up my jar of peanut butter and ate my dinner.

BETH'S POV

It felt pretty good to be in an actual building with four solid walls and a roof, at least for tonight. It felt even better to be sitting here leaning against Daryl.

"As long as it looks clear, I'm gonna go out again tomorrow and see what I can find in the rest of the houses around here," Daryl said to break the awkward silence. He's lucky he's good at that, since there were a lot of those between us lately.

"Okay. I hate that I'm not any help," I said, embarrassed that I couldn't actually be of value in this insane life right now.

"Are you kidding?" Daryl asked. He turned to me. "If it weren't for you, that girl in there would never have had a chance at life. Hell, you're not even her mother, and you've taken better care of her than anyone I've ever seen. Lori would be proud."

That made me tear up. "Thank you, Daryl," I said. I gave him a little hug and stood up. "I'm heading to bed. Goodnight."

"'Night."

I woke up to Judith's whimpers that I knew meant she needed her diaper changed. I got her ready for the day and walked out to wake Daryl up. He was already up and packing his bag with weapons. "Think I'll go out now, just to make sure I'm back by tonight. You have your gun?" He asked.

"Yeah." I pulled my pant leg up to show him my revolver in its holster on my boot, and my knife stashed inside the boot. I didn't dare keep the gun on my hip, or anywhere near Judith for that matter.

"Okay, good. I'll see you tonight then," Daryl said as he walked toward the ladder. I grabbed his arm before he could get too far away and pulled him into a tight hug. He hugged me back just as tight, and that's when I knew that I had to do what I did next. When he pulled away I kept a hold on his arm and leaned up on my tip-toes to reach his mouth. It was barely a whisper of a kiss, but it was enough to make Daryl's body stiffen in surprise. I lingered there for a few seconds before pulling away and letting go of his arm.

"What was that for?" He asked, astonished.

"Just, in case you don't come back. I needed to do that at least once."

With a chuckle, he turned and grabbed the ladder. I swear I heard him mutter, "Women," as he climbed down. I laughed out loud for the first time in I don't know how long.

"I heard that!" I yelled after him. He flipped me the bird without even turning around, but I could see his body shake with laughter.

DARYL'S POV

_What the hell just happened?_ I had no idea how to respond to that. On one hand, I wanted to throw down my bag right there and take her on that damn couch. But the moral side of me said that I should walk away right now and never think of the idea again. _She's 19. But I mean she's so old for her age._ She raised a newborn baby at 17, she's seen half of her family die at the hands of walkers and humans, and she's made it through the worst week of her life without one mental breakdown.

But right now, that matter was not important. What was important was finding food for her and Ass Kicker. I snuck around, going from house to house, raiding what I could until I saw the sky get orange with the sunset. _Ought to head back now, I guess. I've got enough for a few days here._

I made it back to the tree house without any major problems, and we dug into my stuff. Frozen fish sticks thawed over the flame of my lighter and stale Cheez-its dipped in the expired peanut butter made for a quality dinner that night. Jude got some old canned fruit and water; all the baby food I found smelled like rats died in it, so I thought better of bringing that back here for her.

Beth thought that maybe I should actually learn how to take care of the little one, so she had me change her and put her to bed. I'm guessing I looked pretty damn hilarious, because I could see Beth laughing at me outta the corner of my eye. "Shut up," I snapped at her.

She looked hurt and went into the living room. I followed her out after I tucked Jude in and sat down beside her. "Come on, I didn't really mean it," I told her. She looked over at me then, and I had no idea what to do. I reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and left my hand on her cheek. My heart was beating literally a mile a minute; I had never felt this good about someone. _Aw fuck it_. I leaned in and kissed her before my morality could even protest. She was still for a second and then she reacted, pressing her tiny body into me and pushing me down onto my back. She straddled me, and we went on kissing for some time before I pulled away. Her cheeks were flushed, and her hair was wild around her beautiful face. I couldn't bear it anymore; I had to have her. I asked her with my eyes and my actions how far she wanted to go, and she responded. Oh, she responded alright.

I flipped her over and hovered over her, easily slipping her shirt and bra off. I ravished her perfect nipples, biting and licking them until she started to take my shirt off. I let her, and she ran her hands up and down my toned stomach, finally stopping on the bulge in my pants. She giggled, giggled of all things! I looked down at her and laughed out loud. She just looked so cute and innocent, staring at my dick. She heard me laugh and immediately put my penis in her mouth. My laugh turned into a moan as she started sucking my dick.

"Aw fuck," I groaned. "How are you so good at this?" Beth just laughed and slithered her way back up to be level with my face. She kissed me something fierce, and I pulled down her pants and underwear in one fluid motion. She positioned herself on top of me again and looked straight into my eyes I guided myself into her wet pussy. Something between a sigh and groan escaped my throat as Beth moved up on my throbbing dick. She came back down hard and _fuck_ that felt good. I set a steady pace of thrusting into her tightness. When I felt the walls of her pussy tighten around my dick, I pounded into her even harder and her moans went from quiet sexual sounds to loud, high pitched squeals. I felt her cum on me and that put me over the top. I pulled out fast and flipped Beth over. She sucked me off with ferocious intensity, and I came hard in her little mouth. She licked up every drop, and we collapsed on the couch, exhausted. I fell asleep playing with her hair, and she drifted off stroking my chest.

BETH'S POV

_I can't believe this is happening._ That's all I could think as Daryl kissed from my mouth to my neck and back again. I was kissing Daryl Dixon. I could tell he wanted more though, but I knew he wouldn't do anything without knowing for sure that I was okay with it. So when he asked with his body, I answered with my actions.

DARYL'S POV

We woke up to the sound of Judith wailing. "Oh, how late did we sleep?!" Beth exclaimed, crawling off the couch over my chest. She ran to pick up the baby, and I followed her sleepily. It took her that long to realize that she was still naked. She blushed furiously and grabbed Ass Kicker's blanket to cover herself. She changed the baby and headed to the living room to feed her. I stopped her and set Judith on the ground. Beth looked at me, confused, and she tightened her hold on the blanket covering her body. I looked into her bright blue eyes, cupped her little cheek in my big, calloused hand, and said the one thing I swore I'd never say to anyone, "I love you."


	2. Chapter 2

BETH

Daddy is teaching me how to ride a bike. It is a hot summer day, and I'm around 5 years old. Maggie zooms by on her bike, laughing and playing with my brother. I'm scared I'll fall, that Daddy won't hold on to me the whole time. I get my clumsy little feet on the pedals and looked back at Daddy. "I've gotcha," he says, smiling at me.

"Okay, don't let go," I say, and start pedaling. I bump down our driveway for a little while and start pedaling faster. I look back to see if Daddy is still there like he said he would be, but I'm not on the farm anymore. I'm far into the woods, and a walker is holding onto the back of my bike. I scream, "Daddy!" and fall off the bike, that is suddenly much too small for me. I turn around, ready to fight the walker, but I discover that there are at least 10 of them. I start to run, but everywhere I turn, there's another one of those monsters. One of them grabs me by the back of my shirt and I scream for help, but my voice won't work. As I struggle to break free, I see one of the savages with half of a head and a decomposing rib cage bite down on my arm. I scream in agony and give up fighting, knowing this is the end. Daddy…

"Beth! BETH! Hey, hey, its okay! I'm right here, it was only a dream. You're gonna be okay! Shh, shh."

"Daddy!?" I screamed out, and now my voice worked. A hand came down hard on my mouth, and I panicked and started kicking and punching anything I could make contact with. My attacker pinned me down on the bed. I heard a grunt of pain as my elbow connecting with something, and a low "Damn, woman." as the man tried to constrain me. "Listen to me! Beth, it's Daryl!" I heard. I stopped struggling as he flipped me over and I looked up into his green eyes, recognition resounding in my mind.

"Oh, God," is all I could manage to say before breaking down, sobs retching from my body. Daryl moved me over and laid next to me, placing my head on his chest. I clutched at his shirt, crying for everything I had lost, everything that had happened in the last month, everything that had happened in the last three years. When I finally calmed down I looked up at Daryl and he gave me a little smile. "You gonna be okay?" he asked me.

I cleared my throat and said, "Yeah, maybe."

"Good because Ass Kicker just woke up. How she slept through all that screaming is beyond me, but I'm pretty sure if we don't do anything about it soon, she's gonna crawl right out of that damn crib and beat us both to death."

I wiped myself off and got up to take care of Judith. Daryl tagged along, watching what I did, hopefully learning something, because he was horrendous at changing diapers. When she was cleaned up and fed, we went to the living room and heated up our day-old canned spaghetti. We sat in silence until Daryl asked, "What was it about?"

I knew he meant the dream. "My dad," I answered.

"Oh."

"I just wish he was here, you know? Well maybe not here, because he probably wouldn't be able to make it up the ladder," I giggled. "But I do wish he was with me. I wish we were all still together. But we can't always get what we want, especially in this world. How do you think everyone else is doing?" I wasn't even sure who made it out of the prison. I hoped Rick was still alive, and Carl, and Michonne. Tyreese, the kids, Carol, I had no idea what happened to them. Maggie. Oh Maggie and Glenn, please be out there. I couldn't bear to hear that they were gone too; that would be too much.

"No idea," Daryl said.

DARYL

I hate when I think. If I could just ignore all the bullshit goin' on around me, maybe I'd be able to stop bein' so damn angry. Even before the world went to shit, I just needed to shut my brain off and I'd have been okay. Beth made me think. What had happened to the others? Last I saw, Michonne was running that sumbitch Governor through with her blade, and the bus was leaving without us. I saw Beth with Judith running into the prison. I had yelled for her, and we made off into a part of the woods that wasn't covered with walkers. And here we are now.

We went back to eating in awkward silence. We hadn't talked about what happened the other night, or my confession the next morning. I figured it was because she didn't feel the same way. I hadn't accepted that, but I wasn't about to go doing anything about it.

Just then, Judith started coughing. Beth went over to pick her up and see if she was alright. I barely had time to react before I saw the decaying hand reach in through the window. It grabbed Judith's hair, and she cried out. Beth yanked her away from the window, pulled out her knife, and stabbed it into the walker's forehead without a second's hesitation. We knew the drill by now. I grabbed Jude's bag and my weapons, while Beth picked up the backpack of food and cradled the toddler against her chest. "How the hell did that son of a bitch get up here?!" I yelled as I made sure there weren't any more walkers down below. A few were walking toward us, pretty much the brain dead fuckers that they are. I dropped the ladder and climbed down, grabbing Judith and waiting for Beth. We ran to the car we parked under the tree house and drove to the road. We drove until we were out of the town, and then I stopped the car.

"Where to now?" Beth asked. She had put Ass Kicker in the car seat while we were getting the hell out of town, so now she grabbed the map and we decided that our best bet would be to just keep taking back roads until we found somewhere else to stay. Seems like all we're doing these days is running and finding another place to stay for three days and then get run out by goddamn walkers. But Beth had hope that maybe if we stayed around the prison, we could find some of the others. We drove until it got too dark to see and decided to call it a night. I parked in front of an empty house and we cleared it out. Beth offered to take the first watch, so I laid down next to Jude and didn't budge again until morning.  
BETH

New night, new house, as usual. Daryl had driven all day so I took watch, knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep. The only night that I really slept this week was the night that Daryl and I…. I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't thought about that night more often than not. It's about half of what keeps me up on these nights. We hadn't talked about it since then, but I felt like we obviously should. I knew he wasn't going to bring it up, because he is so insecure under that I'm-so-badass-and-unemotional facade. I'm fairly certain he thinks that I don't feel the same way as he does just because I didn't say "I love you" back to him that morning. I kinda just said something like "Oh" and walked away to get dressed. I've never had a guy say that to me, let alone a guy like Daryl. I mean, I'm 19; I haven't put much thought into love at all, especially considering the last three years have literally been a post-apocalyptic Hell. I never expected him to say that to me in a million years. I looked at him sleeping soundly with Judith, and I can't help thinking that maybe I could love him.

I awoke from my trance when light started streaming into the little window. I got up and stretched, and I figured I could leave their side for a few minutes to go take care of myself. When I came back, Daryl was slumped off the side of the bed as if he had just hit the snooze button on a Monday morning. Judith was watching her little hands crumple and uncrumple the sheets. I watched her silently and thought for the hundredth time how beautiful she was. Lori was so beautiful, too. The happy toddler looked up and smiled a 5-toothed grin at me. I reached over Daryl to pick her up before she got fussy, and a hand reached up and grabbed me. I squealed, instinctively grabbing for my gun with my free hand. I looked down to see that it was Daryl, who was now laughing and smiling at me.

"You're the worst!" I exclaimed jokingly. He let me go and rolled over, sitting upright and rubbing his eyes.

"How come you didn't wake me up?" He asked gruffly, the sleep still in his voice.

"Well I thought you deserved to rest, after driving all day yesterday."

"Oh. Well thanks."

"No problem."

I took Jude into the kitchen and made her up some breakfast of that old canned fruit and some very shady crushed walnuts. Daryl came out and tried to work the stove, like he does in every house we find. Of course it didn't work, but I guess it's worth the try. He saw me eying him strangely, as usual, and said, "Hey. You have your hope of finding the others, I have my hope of finding a working stove." I laughed and nodded in agreement.

We spent most of that day searching the house, looking for anything that we could salvage. The cellar held a few non-perishables and a shotgun. We finished the looking and added the food and gun to our stash. I put Judith down for a nap and sat down outside of her open door to keep her safe. Daryl came ambling down the hallway, full from our hearty lunch of cold refried beans and processed tuna fish and water to wash that awful concoction down. It could have been a lot worse. I looked at Daryl as he settled down next to me.

"I could use a nap, too," he said humorously. I looked at him and rolled my eyes.

"Daryl, we need to talk." I sprung it on him before he could avoid it any longer.

"'Bout what?" He asked to stall.

"You know what. I just need you to tell me exactly what that night meant. And what you told me the next day, what does that mean? Because I'm about 1000% sure that I'm going to explode if you don't just talk to me."

"God, Beth, I don't know. You think I do this kind of thing every day? I mean, I'm sorry, I guess. What the hell you want me to say?"

"I want you to freaking tell me why you would have sex with me and then tell me you love me in the middle of the end of the world. I want you to tell me why you love me. I want you to just freaking say something about it, because I can't take this."

"It didn't mean shit, okay? You wanna hear the truth, there it is. We were both lonely and confused, and it just happened. It didn't mean shit." Daryl got up and stomped off, leaving me to stare at the space that he left. I felt a rebel tear roll down my cheek and wiped it away angrily. I will not cry over a stupid man. I refuse.  
DARYL

Goddammit! What the hell am I doing? I was pacing in the living room of the house, trying to keep myself from breaking every-fucking-thing in this room. I'm such a piece of shit. Why the hell did I say that to her? She's probably fucking hates me now. Good job, idiot. I grabbed the nearest object and threw it at the wall. I grabbed everything off the table and threw it on the floor, flipping the table in the process. I was on a roll now, so I turned and swept everything off the fireplace mantle and kicked over the pile of rotting firewood.

"That's enough!" I heard a yell come from the doorway. "You are a child! God, I'm more mature than you are! I don't care what you feel about me, but destroying this house and making enough noise to attract every walker for a mile is not okay. Do you still care about Judith at all?!" Beth stood livid staring at me.

"Of course I do!" I yelled back.

"Then keep it down! God, I swear you are such an ass sometimes!" Beth gave me one last angry look and walked back to Ass Kicker's room. I turned around and looked at the destruction I caused. Broken glass was everywhere, and shattered decorations were all over the floor. Hope they won't mind the mess. I was pretty good with sarcasm, but I was out of practice lately, what with Beth being so sensitive. I barely had a second to enjoy that though, because I heard an urgent yell from the bedroom.

Forgetting everything that just happened, I grabbed my crossbow off the table and ran to the room. I burst through the door to see two men dressed in all black pointing a gun straight at Beth and Judith.


	3. Chapter 3

DARYL

It was a stalemate. We stared at the two men, and they stared back at me. I didn't dare take our eyes off of them for a second. One of them looked about my age, the other a few years older.

"We don't mean any trouble," the first man said.

"That's funny, comin' from a guy pointin' a gun at my head!" I said, moving to stand in front of Beth and Judith. I kept my crossbow cocked; I wasn't about to let my guard down while these two assholes still had their guns up.

"We just came to warn you that this house is on our land, and it'd be pretty wise of you to put down that bow and come with us," the second man said.

"I'm sure we can handle your group. Anyway, we're prob'ly just passing through," I said.

"You see, we can't exactly let you do that. The house is surrounded," the older man said.

Two more men appeared at the doorway with M14s. Beth looked at me then, and I could tell that she didn't care about anything that happened earlier that day. She just wanted to keep Judith safe.

When we didn't move, one of the men with the pistols grabbed Beth's arm and pushed her roughly toward the door. I grabbed him by the back of his shirt and shoved him to the ground. "Keep your hands off her."

I put my hand on her back and cradled her and Judith close as we were led to an delivery truck. We were shoved in the back, and the door slammed shut. Somehow, despite the fact that we were being taken to God-knows-where by God-knows-who, it still managed to be an awkwardly silent ride there. I laughed out loud at the whole situation. Beth looked at me incredulously, saying, "What could possibly be funny right now?"

"Nothin'," I said, getting up and kicking the big double doors a few times. The truck lurched to a stop, and we heard people talking outside. The doors opened with a creak and sunlight streamed in, making Judith whine. Beth soothed her as the two men with M14s pulled us out of the truck. We were in a warehouse in town. We raided this place last year. We had to be like, 5 miles from the prison. At least I'll know where I am when we sneak out of this dump. I kept a firm grip on my bow, and my other hand hovered over Beth's back. The men led us roughly to the old storage basement past the bays in the warehouse. They kept us separated for some reason, like Beth was gonna do anything with Judith in her arms. I watched the young guy in front of me, knowing I could take him in a fight. I just about wrung his neck when he looked Beth up and down from behind. They acted like they didn't even care that we had Ass Kicker with us. We got put in one of the rooms, with one window and a big iron door, obviously redone to keep walkers out. Or in.

"Hey what the hell you keepin' us in here for?" I yelled at the one asshole holding a shotgun.

"We gonna keep you here until the boss comes back, and then we gonna figure what to do with you," the kid said.

"Who's the boss?"

"He's the boss. Just sit down and shut up."

I leaned against the door, looking around for a way out. The walls were tall, but wooden, and I could probably smash through it with the end of my bow. I just needed to distract the guard long enough to get a hole going.

"Ask to go piss," I whispered to Beth.

"What?" she asked, confused. Maybe because this was the longest sentence I'd said to her since we left this morning.

"I'm gonna get us out. Go distract the guard," I said, annoyed._ This is bullshit. There's goddamn walkers out there, and they're busy locking people up in warehouses._ Beth said to the guard, "Hi. While we're waiting for this 'boss,' where do we go to the bathroom? I do have a baby here, you know."

Since it was the fucker that was checking her out, the guard easily opened the door and let her out. Acting on impulse, I grabbed her and kissed her hard before she left with the guard. She stood there staring at me for a second, and I could tell she was about to ask what the hell that was for. Before she could get it out, I said, "Just in case you don't come back." To the guard I said, "You touch her, I'll know." She smiled even though I could tell she was trying her hardest not to.

As soon as they were out of sight, I set to work hitting the softest part of the makeshift wall. I got through easily, and then sat down and leaned against it to hide it when the guard came back. We snuck into the hole silently and out into the room next to us. It was a big empty room, lit by small windows around two sides of it. With a sudden stroke of luck, I realized we were at the corner of the building. Aw shit this'll be so easy. I guided Beth and a now drowsy Judith to the far wall, and we found the door. I pushed it open a crack and looked out. There were two guards walking away from us, but other than that, we were home free to get out the side doors. We snuck out those doors as soon as the coast was clear, and ran like hell to the fence that encircled the camp. I climbed up first and took Ass Kicker, then helped Beth over and gave Jude back to her. I heard a yell, and an ear-splitting alarm went off as soon as we made it over the fence. Idiots. That's gonna bring every damn walker for miles straight to you.

We were running along the fence, trying to find a good place to cut into the woods. I felt a bullet whiz by my ear, and I motioned for Beth to get down; we ran into the woods and hid under fallen tree until the firing stopped. The gunmen didn't sound like they were getting any closer, and when I looked up, I could see them standing at the fence fighting off a few of the walkers that had been attracted by the noise. Fuckers are scared shitless of them. Good.

We stayed still for what seemed like forever, then when it started to get dark, we stayed low and made our way as far from the camp as we could. We found our way back to the road, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing: Get to the prison. We knew we had food there, and we could clear out a cellblock again; we did it before. But we weren't making it tonight.

Just when we were about to give up and crawl into some den somewhere, we came up on this crappy little shack. There were two walkers in the front room, and I put them down easily, shooting the first one and then pulling the arrow from its forehead to stab the other in the eye socket. One more was stuck in the bathroom; after killing it, I was about to call out the all-clear when I heard a thump from the kitchen. Raising my bow, I creeped into the room and put the moving mass of flesh hidden in the cabinet into my sights. I hesitated when I saw the colorful scarf around the thing's neck. I stumbled back and would have fallen on the ground had there not been a wall behind me. Oh God no please no not you. My vision blurred and a low groan escaped my chest as the thing pulled itself to its feet. No this can't be real. I was supposed to be the one that makes sure you made it. It's face was still in the dark, and that's how I wanted it to be; I didn't want to see her like this. I could make out where her head was, and I was one second away from letting the arrow go when I heard a weak voice say, "Daryl."

"Holy shit," I could barely get the words out and then she was in my arms. She held on to me like I was the only thing keeping her up, and I probably was. I was stunned for a millisecond and then I wrapped her in my arms and held on tight to her small frame. We stood like that for I'm not sure how long; I let go of her first and pulled back, checking to see if she was hurt at all. Her hand was cut up somethin' awful, and her face was swollen around her eye. "Ran into a door," she said when she noticed my eyes stopping there. "Wow," she continued, "That's the first time I've told someone that, and it actually be the truth." She laughed quietly, which turned into a cough, which made her keel over and lean into me. I held her up and led her to the living room of the shack. Beth was coming in as we got out of the kitchen, and she stood shell-shocked for a second, same as me, then exclaimed, "Carol!" and ran to her. They hugged tight, and I could see the tears in Beth's eyes. I helped Carol over to the couch and asked if she had any supplies with her.

"The car's out back," Carol answered, "I ran in here a few days ago just to see if I could salvage anything and got caught with the walkers. Normally I would have made a run for it, but in this condition? I wouldn't have made it halfway to the car."

"Well you're luckier than the rest of us. How the hell did you make it out of the prison in a car? We had to run like hell when everything went to shit."

Carol looked at me and Beth with a pained expression. "Rick didn't tell you." She covered her mouth and looked away.

Beth and I looked at each other, confused. "No," Beth said, "What did we miss?"

"I killed Karen and David. I was trying to stop the flu from spreading, and I thought that would be the answer," Carol choked out. She buried her face in her hands and a sob wretched from her body. "Rick found out, and on the last run, he told me that I had to leave. I wasn't sorry that I did it. I was protecting my own; you two, and the kids, and Rick. I can't believe, actually you know, I can believe he wouldn't tell you. But that's okay. He did what he had to do."

"I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna fucking kill him." I said. I got up and paced around the room, loading my crossbow. "What the fuck was he thinkin'? He was gonna banish you, but he came this close to letting the fucking Governor live with us?! That bastard better not show his face around me any time soon because I am gonna kill him."

"Daryl, hey. Daryl, calm down," Carol got up and put her hand on my arm. She looked at me with the happiest expression that a deeply sad person could have on her face, and said, "It wasn't his fault. I did what I thought I had to do, and he did what he thought he had to. Neither of us liked what we did, but we did it. Can't change that now."

"That bastard ought to be taught a lesson! We put up with his shit for so long, and oh when I see him, it's gonna be a rude awakening."

"If you see him," Beth added. She set Ass Kicker down and came to stand with Carol. "She's right, Daryl. You know she is. What happened had to happen. And honestly, we're probably not gonna see him again. At least not for a while."

If Beth is startin' to go negative, the world really has ended. "Whatever. That's a problem for another night, maybe not one when we're hungry and hurt." I saw Beth out of the corner of my eye give Carol a look that said when is that not the case? "I saw that," I pointed at Beth, chuckling. She smiled and said to Carol, "So about those supplies?"

Carol led Beth out to the car, and I stayed inside with a conked-out Judith. As I held her, I thought about how much of a perfect miracle she is. I mean, she was born into the apocalypse, her mom's dead, and she's lived in insanity for almost all of her life. Yet she's still here. She really was the perfect miracle. I'd come to love her like my own, though God help any kid of mine. Looking at her, I didn't want to kill Rick; I didn't want to have to live this goddamn life. And that was what kept me going. I would protect this perfect little girl no matter the cost.  
BETH

I can't believe Carol is here. She cared for me so much; she was like another sister, or a mother, to me. I really admired her. But I had no idea how to tell her about what happened with Daryl and I, even though he said it meant nothing. But then kissed me at that camp? It was a big mess, but I still felt terribly awkward about explaining all that to her. That was another discussion for a different day, because right now we were trying to get some food and other stuff into the house for the night. We brought in two bags of food and weapons Carol had picked up here and there in the last few weeks that she'd been on her own. We set them in the kitchen and went to let Daryl know that "dinner" was ready. I walked into the living room and shushed Carol, because Daryl was asleep with Judith in his arms. Carol laughed out loud, and I stared at the big, muscular man sprawled out with his mouth hanging open, cradling a two year old. I knew she was gonna be waking up and would want food though, so I picked her up and started toward the kitchen. When I looked back, I just caught the smallest glimpse of Carol giving him a light kiss on the forehead.

After Jude was fed and content, we settled in for the night. We would leave in the morning to find a better place to live; maybe even the prison, or what was probably left of it. A lot of maybes, a lot of ifs. In the morning, we talked about where we were gonna go. I wanted the prison, of course, and Carol thought that was a good idea as well.

"Well, looks like I'm outnumbered, as long as Judith doesn't have an opinion about it. Huh, lil Ass Kicker?" He scooped her up and said, "Ehh, you wouldn't be on my side anyway. Beth's the one takin' care of you. I can't even change your rank diapers, girl." He was in a good mood today, which was strange for Daryl. Maybe because he had Carol back. That thought kind of hurt, but I'd rather just deal with him being happy because of someone else than him not being happy at all.

The car ride to the prison was a quiet one. We had no idea what to expect. It was overrun with the walkers when we got out, but we did clear it out once before, so we could do it again. Especially if it was just an area for the four of us. Daryl thinks I'm too optimistic, and maybe I am, but I need something to keep me going.

We were coming up on the final turn before the prison, and I didn't think I could watch. I looked at Carol, and she grabbed my hand. When Daryl rounded that final turn, we looked up together at what was left of our prison.


	4. Chapter 4

_This was an awful plan. Why did I want to do this?_ Daryl was driving us around to the back of the prison, and I was questioning my own sanity. The prison looked terrible. I guess I expected that, but I didn't expect the flood of emotions that would come with seeing the bodies of the Governor's militia and his cars still sitting there outside the prison. It was overrun, and I mean, _overrun_. We didn't get 100 feet past that turn when we knew this was a bad idea. Daryl flipped it into reverse, and we went around back. It wasn't as bad here, on the side that had already been ruined when we got there.

I wanted desperately to go inside and help gather what we could, but someone had to stay outside with Judith. Daryl looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Listen, if you need to get away, go. Don't wait for us, don't try to come in after us. Just go and get Judith to safety." I nodded and watched them sneak into the ruins.

DARYL

The place looked like shit. There was no way we were getting in there and getting back out with the supplies. Carol and I made our way down the farthest corridor, the one we never used. It was crawling with walkers before Rick, T-Dog, and I cleared it out, and the dead prisoners were piled up along the sides of the hallway. Carol coughed and covered her mouth with her scarf. I held out my hand to her and pulled her faster through the area, until we got to our half of the prison. The big double doors were welded shut, and I knew on the other side, two by fours were nailed up and down. _"Can never be too careful," Rick had said._ We could hear them right on the other side of the door.

Carol motioned up. Above us were vents that led into the other cell blocks. I shrugged my shoulders, and hopped up on one of the tables, trying to quietly open the duct cover; that was no easy job. I got up first and grabbed Carol's hand, pulling her up with me. Once we were up there, we crawled slower than a walker with no damn legs to make sure we didn't make any noise.

At every duct cover, we looked down to see if it was our cell block. We finally found it, and there were at least eight walkers down there. It would be a tough job, but we came this far, we might as well just get it over with. I motioned that I would get one door, and she would get the other. If we could at least shut ourselves into one block, we could kill those walkers, get the stuff, and climb back out through the vents. "No. Guns," I whispered to Carol in warning, then slipped the cover off, and I dropped down onto the upper level of our block. I stabbed my knife into the first walker I saw, then fought my way to the steps. Carol was right behind me, and I could hear the grunts of her splitting the second walker's head open with the machete. The rest of the walkers had heard us and were coming straight for the stairs. I put an arrow in the closest one, and said, "I'll cover you, get to the door!" I shot the next one and Carol ran to the door, grabbed it, and slammed it shut. She came up behind one of the walkers and stabbed it through the back of the head, making the end of the ice pick come out its eye. She yanked it back out and went at the next one. I saw a path and ran to the door, holding it shut with a broomstick. The walkers had heard our fight and were coming up on our block. Carol yelled and I turned to see a walker coming down on her. I grabbed my knife and stuck it into the back of the fucker's head, and it fell in a heap on top of her. I dragged it off, and said, "We need to move fast, those doors won't hold forever."

We grabbed what we could from the rooms, leaving just the necessities for anyone else who decided to come back here. And of course, we got all of Jude's stuff: extra clothes, food, and her blanket. Against my yelling that we needed to leave, Carol made a sign that said, 'Daryl, Carol, Beth, and Judith were here. Staying in shack 4 miles down the interstate.' We hung it in one of the cell blocks, with the stuff that we could leave behind. Carol crawled out the duct in front of me, dropping into the hallway first. I heard her scream, and then there was a loud thud of something hitting the floor. I dropped down, crossbow ready. I saw Carol on the ground with a dead walker on top of her. "I really have to stop doing that," she said, pushing the thing off of her. I helped her up, and we ran to the car. Beth started the engine when she saw us. A few geeks turned and started toward us at the sound of the engine. Carol and I threw ourselves into the car, and Beth spun the tires peeling out of yard.

"How'd it go? Are you guys okay? What's it like in there? Was anyone else here?" Beth asked as soon as we were on the main road.

"Slow down, girl. We got supplies. Check it out," I said, holding up a new pack of diapers and a jug of water, "We're just fine, but the place is gone to shit. We took out at least 10 of them, but that ain't even a dent compared to the rest of the prison."

"We left some of the supplies for anyone else who decides to come back," Carol added, "It didn't look like anyone had been there in weeks though."

Beth looked back at the road with tears in her eyes. I know she had been counting on maybe Maggie and Glenn being there, and I know she went into today hoping we could find a way to stay in the prison again. But that wasn't gonna happen, not for a while. I opened my mouth to say something, but thought better of it and just looked out the window for the rest of the ride.  
BETH

I only really swear in my head. I was always brought up that way, along with "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all" and all those other old adages. On the car ride home, I was cursing every god, in every language, in every way that I could think of. _Why can't you just give me a sign, something to let me know if my sister is alive or not?! I know I don't deserve it. I know what I tried to do in the past wasn't right, and I've said I was sorry a thousand times! Why can't you just give me a fucking sign?!_

I think I made it to the house before I broke down. Carol took Judith from me, and Daryl led me to the bedroom. I laid down on the bed and rolled over, sobs shaking my whole body. I don't know how long it was, but when I came back around, there was a body pressed against me. I jerked away from it, but it was too dark to see who it was._ Wait, where am I? How long have I been here?_ The person moved into a sitting position, and said, "Hey, its okay. Just me." Daryl. I let out a long sigh and let him lead me out into the living room. Carol was asleep, and Jude was on the ground, curled up in her blanket.

"Bet you're hungry," Daryl said, going into the kitchen. He gave me a bag of really stale chips and a glass of water. I sat down and caught him staring at me again. I looked away awkwardly and wandered back into the bedroom. I sat by the window and watched the stars outside. Daryl came up behind me some time later, but didn't say anything or even touch me. He just stood there, and I didn't dare turn around for fear of the look that I would see on his face. When I had finished my chips and I was out of water, I glanced nervously out of my peripheral vision. I took a deep breath and turned around. Daryl was sitting on the bed, sharpening one of his arrows and glancing at me every so often. I wasn't about to say anything to him; I was gonna make him say something first. _You're not allowed to just sit there after all that's happened and not be the first one to say something. God just say SOMETHING._

"Are you okay?" I was shaken from my anger-fueled thoughts.

"Um, yeah. Fine. Just worried about the others I guess."

"Yeah, I'd say that."

He looked away then, and I went back to thinking of a way I could kick him in the groin before he could get out of the way. _This isn't me. I don't usually want to be violent._ Daryl changes me. And I'm starting to realize that not all of it is good.

"So you wanna tell Carol, or should I?" He asked finally.

I looked at him incredulously. "Are you serious? That's what you're gonna say to me about all of this? I thought it didn't mean anything, that it didn't even happen in your mind! So why bother? Go play happy little couple with her. You and I both know that she wants that!"

"Exactly. _She_ wants that. Didn't say nothin' about what _I_ want. And truth is, I don't know. Haven't put much thought into it considering the shit's been hittin' the fan for the past three years!" Daryl got up and paced from the bed to the door angrily. He wiped at his eyes, just like he did when he told us Carol was gone. _And Daryl Dixon finally shows some emotion. We're in deeper trouble than I thought._ He came back and grabbed my chin in a fierce grasp. I struggled to break his grasp. I knew the signs when someone was about to hit you; I had one too many friends in high school who were abused by their boyfriends or dads. I shut my eyes and flinched, then suddenly his hands were gone.

"You thought I was gonna hit you?" Daryl said, actually looking shocked for once. "Beth, I would never hit you." He let one tear slip down his cheek. When he felt it, he sat down on the bed and threw up his hands. "Listen, what happened with us wasn't a mistake. If we're bein' totally honest, it was the best goddamn night I've had since the world went to shit. But you know how it is, we lose people every damn day. I can't handle caring about you like this. It scares the shit outta me, alright?"

I stared at him as he told me all of this, and when he finished, I launched myself at him. I grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled our lips together. He stood shocked for a minute, then he grasped a fistful of my hair and crushed his lips harder to mine. I had to stand on my tiptoes to reach his height, but he picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around him. He walked us over to the wall, and I felt my back slam into it, but I was too busy trying to maintain my sanity to care. He removed the hand from my hair to shut the door, then he began fondling my breast through my shirt. My hands worked at the hem of his shirt. I felt his abs and his strong chest, and my head went a little fuzzy. Suddenly we were falling and then caught by the bed. He ripped my shirt over my head and kissed at my neck until I thought I was going to explode. I pulled his shirt over his head and ran my hands all over his great body. I couldn't think of anything but his face and his body and his voice, gruff in my ear, when he said, "I want you so bad."

I took control and flipped us over. Well, truthfully, I think Daryl was just humoring me because I rolled us over pretty easily, but that wasn't really a big deal at the moment. I took hold of his belt loops and pulled down his pants, feeling the bulge in his pants hard against me. I ran my hands up and down his thighs, and he moaned and knotted his hands in my hair, pushing me toward his cock. I took his seven inches into my mouth and sucked on him for a good amount of time. He groaned loudly, and I made my way back up to his mouth, planting kisses everywhere on his body. He pulled my pants and underwear off in one sweep-_how does he do that?_-and slowly entered one finger into my wet pussy. I moaned quietly and rocked back into his finger. Obviously taking this as a good sign, he took his boxers off and pumped his dick a few times before sliding into me gently. I moaned not-so-quietly and leaned down to lay on his chest as he pumped into me. I clutched the headboard of the bed to keep myself steady when he sped up his thrusts. I looked down at him, and he was looking at me with something strange in his eyes. I'd never seen him look like this before. I didn't know what to say or how to look at him, but it was alright because at that same moment, he started rubbing my clit. Slowly at first, but as his thrusting sped up again, his rubbing sped up, and my moans went from not-so-quiet to downright loud. He reached up and pulled my head down to his and kissed me to muffle my embarrassingly loud squeals. He was panting hard, and I could tell he was close. I worked my pussy up and down on his cock even harder, until he said, "I'm gonna, I'm, gonna come." I lifted myself off of him and slithered down to his dick. He pumped it a few more times, and then let loose with strings of cum, which I tried to catch in my mouth. I licked up the drops I missed and swallowed it all. He pulled me back up to him and kissed me hard.

We laid down on our backs under the covers, shoulder-to-shoulder, hip-to-hip and breathing heavily, Daryl looked at me and said, "Shit, girl. How did you get so good at that?"

I gave him a sly smile and said, "Hey, a girl has to learn from somewhere. I had a few secrets that Daddy never knew about." I laughed and cuddled up to him. We fell asleep like that, not an inch of space between us.  
DARYL

I wanted to stay here forever. Not much in my life had made me think that, but that day, I could have forgotten about all the shit going on and just lain there with to her for the next 50 years. But the world wasn't about to stop for me to enjoy a few seconds of something good. Judith was making such a racket that I'm not sure I coulda stayed in the room any longer anyway, so I got up and walked out to see how Carol was doing.

"I don't think she likes me much. She would always fuss when I tried to change her at the prison, but now its worse. It's like she forgot who I was," Carol said, exasperated, "I never had this much trouble with-" She stopped abruptly. I knew she was about to say Sophia. Her eyes teared up like they always do when Sophia was mentioned. She looked away from me and I saw one tear slip down onto Judith's blanket. I usually just change the subject when things get tough, but this time I was determined to do something about the sadness in her eyes. I reached up and wiped away the tear and held my hand there. Carol was a friend, or at least as close to a friend as I could get. I hated seeing her sad, even though I wasn't too good at expressing that. She turned her head and held my hand to her lips. She kissed my palm lightly and said, "Thank you." I nodded at her and walked to the kitchen. We ate breakfast talking about what we were planning on doing that day, whether we should chance another trip to the prison, or go the other direction looking for a better place to stay, maybe more people. Beth came wandering out of the bedroom an hour or so later.

"Get a good night's sleep?" Carol asked, unaware of what went on last night. We had a makeshift bed next to the actual bed, so she probably just thought I took the floor and let Beth have the bed. We should prob'ly tell her sometime. Right then, Beth was looking at me sleepily and damn was she cute. I turned away and asked what she wanted for breakfast. Now that we had more than one option, we were milking that shit for as long as we could. We built a fire in the oven-that's old this house was- and started boiling some water to drink, and Beth said she just wanted some cereal. She grabbed the box of Cheerios I had found back in the first town we stayed in and wandered back into the living room with Ass Kicker. Carol and I got our breakfast and followed her. Carol sat down next to Beth and gave Jude one of her toys to play with. The toddler laughed and started banging it on the coffee table. Carol laughed at that, and it was such a genuine smile that I couldn't help but laugh too. Laughing felt good; hadn't been enough of that going on lately.

But the matter of what to do about our situation was still in the back of my mind. "So what do you think we should do, Beth?" I asked her.

"Umm, well. You guys kind of hit all the towns around here when we were at the prison. What about looking for somewhere like the prison to stay? Fortify and hunker down, like Rick used to say."

"It took us like, 6 months to find that sort of place, and we haven't seen another like it since before we were staying at the prison. Honestly, odds are we ain't gonna find another place like that unless we go farther than 5 miles from the prison."

"Well, we can't do that! What if someone sees the sign Carol put in the prison and comes here looking and we're gone? What if Maggie and Glenn find us? What about everyone else?! The kids, Tyreese, Rick?" Beth's voice was rising with every word, and she was looking frantically from me to Carol and back again.

"Hey, okay. We won't go anywhere just yet. We can stay here for a few days. It's not the safest, but we can manage. And it's far from any main roads, so we shouldn't get many of them wandering around here." _Unless a herd comes through_. Carol took Beth's hand and rubbed her back reassuringly. She looked at me, still worried, and I said, "Yeah, what she said." She nodded and went back to watching Jude bang her toy mercilessly on the ground.

When night came I took watch, and Beth put Jude to bed and went to bed herself. She's had a rough few days. She deserves some good sleep. I put a chair out on the front porch and settled in for the night. Some time later, the door creaked open, and I looked up to see Carol leaning on the house.

"Couldn't sleep?" I asked, turning back to the empty yard.

"Yeah. Pretty hard to nowadays."

We sat in silence for some time until Carol said, "You know, you can't avoid everything forever. But I guess you can avoid it until the last possible minute because that's how you are. So I'm just gonna go back inside and let you stare out there and avoid whatever it is you're not telling me." I turned around at that comment. I must have looked pretty guilty, because she said, "Yeah, I'm pretty observant. Look it up." She said the last part with a smirk, mocking me from the time when I had said that to Andrea. "But it's okay. You don't have to tell me anything." With that she let the door swing shut behind her and I was left in the silence. _Well._


	5. Chapter 5

******Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading this far in my little story. I have tried to stay out of the way of your reading, but I feel that I need to address my readers at least once every so often. I just wanted to let you guys know that this chapter has upset a few people in my reviews, but that's okay. Feedback is the only way I'm going to know if I'm doing anything right. So, this is about to be a controversial chapter, for Bethyl and Caryl shippers alike. You have been warned! Thank you so much and enjoy. :)**

**CHAPTER FIVE**

DARYL

I spent the next day dodging Carol's stares and Beth's confusion. Did it smoothly, of course. Last thing I needed was one of them asking questions about how I'm doing or what we're gonna do next. I just kept to myself, making some more arrows and other shit. It was late that night when Carol nudged me awake and said, "Walkers!" I ran to the window and swore. Beth came running out holding Judith and looked out beside me. A big group was coming straight for the house. I started to gather my things, motioned for Beth to do the same.

"Why do we need to leave? Can't we just hide and wait for them to pass like we did on the highway?"

"Well we could try, but they'll probably come straight through the house and smell us. Plus, we got a car; we can outrun them and find a nicer place to stay," I replied.

"But what about the stuff at the prison? Someone might come here looking for us!"

"Listen. We can stay here and chance it, but we'd have a better bet if we get the hell out of here to higher, safer ground. If we leave, at least we'll be alive to come back and check if anyone is here tomorrow, or the next day." I ignored the voice in my head that taunted me: _Yeah, because that worked so well with Sophia._

Beth cast one look out the windows and set her jaw. "Okay."

"We better hurry," Carol said, looking out at the herd that was probably 100 yards from us now. "I'll go pack up the kitchen."

We ran out to the car and put everything in just as the first walker was getting to the front door. The ones coming around the side of the house roared and stumbled toward the car. Carol slammed the gas, and I stuck my gun out the window, picking off the few that were right on us. Beth covered Ass Kicker's ears and calmed her down until we had put enough distance between us and them for me to stop shooting.

"We could go to the development that Rick and I raided a few weeks ago," Carol suggested. "It was one of those gated communities, so it would be safer than any old house. And we already picked a few of the walkers off during our run."

"Well we ain't got much of a choice now. You remember where it was?" I asked. Carol had me get out the map, and we started in the direction of sure safety, or utter disappointment; you never knew these days.  
BETH

I felt bad about leaving the cabin, but Daryl was right; we had to stay alive, for ourselves, for the others, and especially for Judith. I sat in the backseat of Carol's station wagon and tried to calm the fussy little girl. She had not had a good night and being woken up in the middle of it hadn't helped. I had done everything: rocked her, fed her, played with her until she got too tired. As a last resort, I decided to sing to her.

_Of all the money that e'er I spent, I spent it in good company._

_And all the harm that e'er I've done, Alas it was to none but me._

_And all I've done for want of wit, To memory now I can't recall,_

_So fill to me the parting glass, Good night, and joy be with you all._

I felt a tear fall down my cheek, and then I discovered that Judith was fast asleep with a smile on her face. I giggled and wiped the tears from my eyes. That was Daddy's favorite song. I hadn't realized that the front seat had gone silent, but when I looked up, Daryl was turned around looking at Judith, and Carol was wiping a tear from her own eye. I smiled at them, and we didn't have to say a word to know that no matter how different we were, no matter the conflicts, no matter the problems we would face; we would be in this together. To think that I hadn't even known these people until two years ago and to have such a strong bond with them now was amazing.

I was shaken from my thoughts by Judy squirming in my arms, whining at a bad dream or maybe just from the absence of voices. I didn't miss a beat.

_Oh, all the comrades that e'er I've had, Were sorry for my goin' away_

_And all the sweethearts, that e'er I've had, Would wish me one more day to stay,_

_But since it falls unto my lot, That I should rise and you should not,_

_I'll gently rise and I'll softly call, Good night and joy be with you all._

_Good night and joy be with you all._

CAROL

I hoped that going back to those houses was the right decision. I wanted more than anything for Daryl and Beth to be safe. Daryl was my best friend, or at least _I_ considered him _my_ best friend. He was never good at showing his emotions, but I thought that I got through to him sometimes. Except for whatever it was he was keeping from me lately. Maybe I was wrong, maybe it was just because they lost the prison or because they were separated from the rest of the group. Maybe I worried about him too much.

The truth is, I just felt good around him. Safe and happy. And honestly, no one could deny that he was pretty sexy. It sounded weird coming from me, who had been with one man my whole life. One awful, heartless man. And Daryl looked pretty heartless sometimes, but I got under that layer, and I liked to think that they he can be himself around me.

I didn't think I could admit it out loud, but in my mind I knew I wanted to be with him. I joked with him all the time, about "screwing around" and "pooky." He always laughed with me, but never really said anything back. But that was Daryl for you. He would never go for me in that way. _Seriously? You're driving an 18 year old and a baby through a walker-infested forest, and you're worried about whether or not a man will like you?_

I shook myself out of it and watched the road. We had to be a few minutes away. We turned a corner and there it was. The gate was busted open, so we just drove through. I directed them to the house that Rick and I found the couple in when we were here. Daryl went in first, with me backing him up. There weren't any walkers, so we unloaded our meager belongings into the living room. We decided to just sit tight for the night, then in the morning we could go out and get supplies. Maybe even fix the gate. After dinner, Beth left with Judy to put her to bed in the other room, and I sat down next to Daryl.  
DARYL

"Sooo," Carol said. _Oh boy. _I gave her a sidelong glance. She continued, "I heard you and Beth yelling two nights ago."

_Shit. _"Oh. What'd you hear?"

"Well I wasn't eavesdropping, so nothing really. I figured out enough to know that you and her have gotten a lot closer in the time I've been gone. You sounded pretty upset, and you don't yell at anyone like that, except maybe me."

I still felt like a jerk about that, yelling at her back on Hershel's farm. I didn't know what to say to that, so I just stayed silent. I felt Carol's hand on my leg then, and I turned to look at her, confused. I blinked and one second we were sitting there, hand on my thigh, and the next she was right next to me and we were kissing. Well, _she _was kissing _me_. I really didn't know what to do, so I responded. I kissed her back, gently, not going for it, but not just sitting there either. It was nice. She was a sweet woman, and we were close, I guess. But this was different; I wasn't sure if it was right or wrong. Maybe somewhere in between. We sat like that for a while, neither of us moving much. It was like a middle school kiss, like we didn't really know what to do about it. When her hand moved up my thigh and started to grab my groin, I pulled away.

"Carol, this isn't right," I said.

She pulled back, hurt. "Who cares what's right or wrong now? All that matters is that we stay alive. Not just surviving, but living. And why not? Let's just have a little fun."

"Still, Carol. We shouldn't be doing this."

"Why not? Give me one good reason, and I'll stop."

"Because its the end of the world. Because I'm not about to let myself have a second of something good, especially something like this. Because, fuck, I don't know." In all the time I had been trying to come up with an explanation, Carol's free hand was playing with the collar of my shirt. I gently grabbed her hands and set them back in her lap. "Just, no, Carol. Sorry. I just can't with you, it wouldn't be right." I got up and went into the other room, where my sleeping bag was set up. I laid down and stared up at the ceiling. _What am I gonna do now dammit._

I finally got to sleep, and it felt like seconds later, Beth was shaking me awake. My vision was fuzzy, but still the first thing I saw were those beautiful eyes. Forgetting anything from the nights before, I grabbed her arm, making her lose her balance and fall on top of me. I smiled at her, and she rolled off of me, laughing. "You're so weird," she commented. She left with Ass Kicker, so I got up and changed, making my way out to the kitchen.

"So that gate really doesn't seem too hard to fix, just gotta find something to keep it propped up and bent back into the right shape," Carol was in the middle of saying when I walked out. She glanced at me and turned back to her breakfast, silent.

"Does that sound like a plan?" Beth asked me.

"Sure. Then we'll go through these houses and see what we can stock up on."

Carol and I set out to fix the gate a while later. Beth didn't want to sit alone in the house with Jude, so she came down with us. She stayed in the car with the toddler, but she tried to be as helpful as possible. I could see it was killing her not to be out there with us, but that little girl in there was more important to us. Carol and I slid the gate back into place, but it was bent at like, a 90 degree angle about halfway to the end, so it wouldn't shut. We took the tow chain from the trunk of the car and had Beth drive the car in reverse, pulling the gate back to how it should have been. With that done, we could get to work on the houses.

The first house by the gate was probably five times more expensive than my old house in Atlanta. We raided every room. Most of the food was expired, but we found a couple good cans of beans and other stuff. We found toys for little Ass Kicker, and a hell of a lot of clothes, which Carol and Beth were pretty damn happy about. We were at it for hours, and we hadn't found much of anything in a few hours, until the second to last house for the day. It happened by accident actually. Carol was searching a cabinet and bumped the back wall by accident. There was a loud thud from behind the wall. Automatically, I lifted my bow and leveled it at the noise. Carol hit the back of the cabinet, and it thudded again, like something was falling against it and clanging back into place. Looking like she had an idea, she took the hammer from her bag and, starting around the edges, she hit the back of the cabinet until it could be taken out.

I shone my light in the hole and laughed. "Well I'll be damned." I pulled out a full bottle of Jack Daniels and took a swig. "Woah! Haven't had this shit in a long while." Carol reached in and pulled out a bottle of vodka. Beth came in at the sound of all my hollering and stopped abruptly at the sight of Carol drinking it straight from the bottle. Beth laughed out loud at her, and Carol's face reddened when she set the bottle down and saw her there. We looted the rest of the cabinet and found three more bottles of whiskey, two little bottles of Seagram's and a 6-pack of Bud. "Shit, we hit the jackpot!" I said, stuffing the bottles in my bag for later. We checked the last house for today and found a few more things. It was getting dark, so we decided to head back and start at it again in the morning.

Beth put Jude to bed and came back out to the living room. I took out the bottles of Jack, and Carol had her vodka. Beth watched us, and I took a long swig of the bottle, giving her a look out of the corner of my eye. She reached over me into my bag and picked up the second bottle of Jack. "Ohh no little girl, you can't handle that," I said, snatching it out of her lap. I set it back in my bag and handed her the Seagram's. "If you're gonna drink, drink this. It ain't too hard, and you won't be throwin' up after a few drinks," I told her, always the protective friend. She scowled at me, but opened one of the "lady beers". Merle used to call them that, when he and his friends would get smashed at our house.

"You'd be surprised, Daryl. I can hold my liquor better than you think," Beth told me after taking a long gulp of her drink. "In fact, I bet I could even outdrink you." She laughed. "Maybe with Carol's help," she continued, giving me a challenging look.

"Oh really, kid? I'm not sure you wanna get into this bet right now," I answer.

"I'll be right back," Carol said then. She got up and went into the other room. She brought out six glasses: three wine glasses and three shot glasses. She filled each glass with shot of my Jack and handed them out. "To one good night!" she toasted. We clinked our glasses together and tipped our drinks back. Beth swallowed hers down and coughed at the taste. I was feeling the alcohol by that time, so that was just about the funniest thing I'd ever seen. I laid back on the couch, and I could hear Carol laughing at Beth. Beth's face got so red, and she took a quick drink of her Seagrams to wash it down.

Carol poured us three shots of the vodka. Beth regarded it warily, but still took it. I said, "To better days!" and we hit our glasses together again. I watched Beth as she tipped it back.

"Oh, that's not too bad," she said, surprised. Still she took a sip of her drink to wash it down.

Carol kept them coming until Beth said she wanted to pour them. Beth took the second bottle of Jack and the three shot glasses. She bit her bottom lip and focused on pouring it into the glasses. "Daryl, stop moving the glasses!" she exclaimed. Since I was all the way across the room, I gave her a funny look and said, "I'm not touching them, girl."

"Oh God," she said, breaking into a fit of giggles. "I'm drunk!"

Carol and I burst out laughing, and she said, "Don't worry, so am I."

"Ya'll are lightweights," I said, taking the last drink of my Jack Daniels. _I should probably slow down._ Ignoring my better judgement, I picked up one of the beers and cracked it open. When Beth finally got the alcohol into the glasses, she took a drink straight from the bottle and said, "To us!" We took the shots and Carol let out a belch. "Good Lord, woman!" I said, and Beth just giggled again. They looked adorable, all red faced and glossy eyed. _Hey. If I start thinking those things, nothing good will happen. Especially in this state of mind._ Beth was watching me watch her, and I looked away quickly.

"Alright, so whosh winning? Oh wait thatsh a stupid question. Daryl, of courshe," Carol said, slurring her words something bad. Beth said with some trouble, "Oh no you don't, Dixon," and grabbed the vodka. She chugged it, laying herself back while still gulping it down. We fell around the room, laughting as Carol took the bottle from her hands and chugged it too. I figured I might as well get in on it and took a long drink myself. "I gotta take a piss," I said, getting up from the couch. The room spun, and I sat back down for a second.

"Havin' some trouble Daryl?" Beth asked, amused.

"Shut up," I sniped at her, laughing. I got up and went to the bathroom. I looked a mess, and I ain't even sure I cared because nights like these were rare nowadays. I walked out of the bathroom, and Beth almost ran headlong into me. I got out of her way as she sprinted to the toilet and yakked up everything in her stomach. "Oh, girl," I said, holding her hair as she let loose all of the alcohol she had drank in the last 4 hours. When she was finally done, I got her a cup of water and then carried her out to her bed. Carol was outside the door, looking at the poor girl with pity. "At least she had some fun," she said, trying not to laugh. I set Beth down in her bed and sat down next to her. She lay on her side and closed her eyes. I made sure Carol had gone into the other room, just to avoid an awkward conversation, and I leaned in to Beth and kissed her on the forehead. She smiled and said, "Thank you."

I walked into the living room to see Carol sprawled out on the couch, bottle of Jack in her hand. Her eyes were shut, so I tiptoed around her and started to clean up the bottles and glasses. I touched the bottle in Carol's hand, and she smirked at me, "Hey thash not empty is it?" She lifted it to her lips again.

"You're cut off. Time for bed," I said. I took the bottle and closed it up, putting it back in my bag. Carol was struggling to her feet, and after some time I gave in and helped her up because the poor woman was just so drunk. I started to lead her to the other room with our sleeping bags and she said, "No, why don't we shleep upstairs? They have some pretty nicshe beds."

"Alright." I led her upstairs to what used to be the master bedroom. It was in pretty good shape. The windows weren't broken and the bed was still made. I set her down and pulled off her shoes and jacket, then tucked the covers around her. I said, "Good night," and was about to walk out when she took hold of my wrist.

"No, lay with me," she said, a glint in her eyes.

I didn't think it was the best idea, but I laid down next to her. She cuddled up to me and put her head on my chest. "You know, this was a pretty good night," she said, her hands making lazy circles on my stomach. "But it doesn't have to end just because we're going to bed." I normally wouldn't have made a comment, but in my current state, I had to say something.

"Oh really? What can we do to keep this night good?" I asked, knowing full well what she had in mind.

She lifted herself up to be level with my face. She stared into my eyes, which were probably pretty bleary as I was still drunk off my ass. Then she was on me, her lips crashing into mine and her body pressed fully to me. Despite the fact that I wasn't sure what was right or wrong, I kissed her back and let my hands wander down her body. Her slender figure was tiny on top of me, almost as small as Beth. That thought made my hands stop. Carol lifted her lips from mine a little and asked, "What?"

I shook the thought from my clouded mind and said, "Uh, nothing."

She sat up on me then and took off her shirt slowly, placing my hands on her breasts. I squeezed them gently, rolling my hips into her warmth. She laid down on me again and kissed my neck, biting and nipping at the spot right under my jaw. I groaned in pleasure, and she laughed under her breath. I unclipped her bra with one hand and threw it across the room. I stuck one of her soft breasts in my mouth and sucked on it, taking her erect nipple between my two front teeth. She left out a ragged breath, and I trailed my hands down her body, leaving one hand on the small of her back and the other on her ass. Her fingers worked at the bottom of my shirt, and I lifted my arms up and let her slip it off. She ran her hands down my body. I caressed her through her jeans, and she moaned. I undid her pants and slid them off, along with her underwear. She worked my pants off too, kissing my abdomen all the while. She took my throbbing bulge into her mouth and sucked me pretty damn good. Her mouth went up and down on my cock fast, and when she moaned around it, I bucked into the back of her throat. My breathing hitched as she ran her nails down the front of my chest, leaving lines of red. I flipped us over and roughly bit my way down her front, until I got to her wet sex. "Mmm you look so good," I whispered, then took her nub into my mouth and pleasured her until she was writhing on the bed above me.

She grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled me back up to her, then placed my penis in front of her throbbing hole. She rolled her hips up and rubbed herself on the tip of my cock. I groaned at the minimal friction and thrusted forward into her. "Fuck Dixon," she moaned and rocked her hips in time with my thrusting. I gripped a handful of her short hair and moved my hips faster and faster. She was breathing hard, and I flipped her over, penis still inside her. I pounded into her doggy style, rubbing her pussy hard. Her moans turned to squeals as she climaxed loudly underneath of me. The walls of her tight pussy pressing in around my member was almost too much for me to take, and I had barely pulled out of her when I started squirting hot cum all over her body. Her stomach, her chest, her chin, everything was covered. She licked my cock clean and then used her fingers to wipe the cum off of her body. I collapsed in a heap next to her, sighing in pleasure. I hadn't had to work that hard at that in a long time, but it felt good to be this tired after doing it. Carol laid down next to me under the covers and said, breathless, "What was that about not knowing right from wrong?"

Brain foggy with alcohol, sex, and emotions, I barely had the strength to utter, "Shut up," before I passed out and didn't wake up until I heard a yell at the doorway.

**I'm sorry it took so long to update, school and work and you know how it is. But since I have posted this chapter, I've gotten mixed reviews. I just want to say that I appreciate every review, good or bad. I've revised a few things, but the main point here is that I believe this is the way my story is meant to go. Every good story has plot-twists and big shocking moments, and that's what makes it interesting. So if this chapter upset my Bethyl shippers, or my Caryl shippers, I am sorry, but please stay with me. There is more excitement to come. Hopefully updating again soon. :) I love you guys! 3**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys. Thank you for continuing on in my story, even if that last chapter made some of you mad. But like I said, this is the way my story is meant to go. So I mean, if you don't like it, don't read it. Thank you to all my supporters, and I hope you enjoy chapter six. :)**

BETH

I just walked upstairs to find a bathroom that didn't smell like puke when I noticed Daryl's jacket outside of one of the rooms. Hoping he was okay, I peeked around the door. The first thing I saw was his naked ass uncovered at the edge of the big bed. I looked closer, because honestly, I was just curious, nothing more. I realized that Carol was next to him, and she was very clearly naked too. "Oh God!" I exclaimed before turning around.

_What. The. Hell. Oh God I need to get that picture out of my head oh my gosh. _I didn't give them a chance to say anything to me, although I heard them scrambling to put on clothes. I hurried down the stairs and made myself busy feeding Judith. _They slept together. What the hell?! You know, maybe it was just because they were drunk, and I went to sleep, so he wanted something to do, and I'm sure it didn't mean anything. Okay, Beth, just keep telling yourself that. _All attempts to calm myself down just made it worse, so I gave up.

For that reason, I was livid when Daryl finally came down from the room. "Morning," he said, avoiding eye contact.

I didn't look up from Judy, but I did ask icily, "So how was your night?"

He glanced at me, curious as to why I was asking. "Uh, not bad," he answered. He looked like he was about to say something else, but Carol walked down right at that moment too, so he shut his mouth and looked down at his breakfast. She took her breakfast to the other end of the couch, and we ate in silence.

"So I was thinkin' we should do the rest of those houses today," Daryl said some time later to break the silence. I nodded but didn't say anything. We got dressed and headed out in silence. Carol opted to stay in the car with Judith. I'm not sure if that was a blessing or a curse, as I didn't really want to work with either of them today. But we went into the first house and cleared it out without any problems; same with the next two. I didn't talk to him unless I absolutely had to, and he just looked awkwardly at me every so often.

"We could check houses separately, you know. Cover more ground," he said in one of the moments that we actually exchanged more than a glance.

I saw the opportunity to make a remark, and I took it. "Sure. As long as you don't go back to the car to have sex with Carol," I said rudely, giving him a hard glare. I regretted it, but at least some of the anger was gone. He looked at me incredulously and scoffed before turning to the next house. He stopped halfway there and turned back.

"She came on to me you know. What was I gonna do? We were drunk, and it just happened," he said.

"Oh so you had no choice? No control over yourself? Okay Daryl."

"Listen, we really gonna have this conversation right now?"

"Whatever. I've got this house."

I walked into the house closest to me and checked it out. I could smell the dead from the second I walked through the door. I couldn't find them anywhere, until I got to the back room. I saw the blood and the dismembered leg first and covered my nose as the smell hit me. Immediately I had my knife out, wielding it in front of me. I cautiously crept through the dark room, almost tripping over the rest of the body. From the looks of it, the body had long since been eaten away by walkers. I heard a shuffling noise and then a roar from beside me. I spun around and slashed out my knife, nicking the shoulder of the walker. I backpedaled until I hit a cabinet, causing cans and tools to fall down around me. The walker grabbed my arm, and I screamed out. I stabbed at it until my knife was lodged in its head, and it fell to the ground. Breathing heavily, I yanked my knife out and checked for any more in the room.

When it was clear, I took a look around. There was a dark hallway leading downstairs. I got out my flashlight and followed the stairs until I was standing in a cellar. Looking around, I could see this family was the survivalist type. _Jackpot._ I grabbed as much stuff as I could, food and rope and a portable radio. There were a few guns down here and a toolbox full of ammunition, too. I took as much as I could carry and ran out to the car. I dropped off what I had and went back to get the guns. Carol was ecstatic to see more ammo. She only had her one pistol, and it was dangerously low on ammo. Daryl came walking out of the next house and said, "Ah yeah, we've needed some more ammo for a while now."

We finished checking the houses without incident. When we got back, I tried to avoid all contact with Daryl and Carol, so I sat with Judith in the dining room and busied myself taking care of her and going through her meager things. I could hear the two of them in the other room, but I was not planning on talking to them tonight. It was an uneventful night for me, all things considered, and when I put Judith down, I fell fast asleep next to her.

DARYL

_I need to talk to Carol._ I was on the back balcony, crossbow in one hand, Jack Daniels in the other. _Or I could sit here and drink myself sick and forget it ever happened._ I scoffed. I turned at the sound of the stairs creaking. _Damn._ I lazily turned back to the yard. Carol leaned on the wall behind me and said, "Nice night."

I grunted in agreement and downed another swig of Jack.

"You gonna share that?" Carol asked. I twisted my arm back without looking at her, and she took the bottle. She handed it back after taking a drink and then she walked back inside. I thought she was going to leave me alone then, but no, of _course _not. She came back out with a chair from the bedroom and sat down next to me.

"A night like this almost makes you forget that the world ended. Now, a night like last night makes you forget completely," Carol said.

"Yeah 'bout that. What the hell was that?" _Please say it was just a drunken night for you._ It's not that I didn't want Carol to want me like that; I just didn't need anything to be more complicated than it already was.

"You know what it was for me," Carol answered seriously. _I do know._ She looked at me then, with shining eyes and a sad expression. I couldn't tell if she was embarrassed or scared or what. But her expression said what neither of would say out loud: _But I know it wasn't the same for you._

I looked at her hard, and she stared back at me. "I'm in love with you, Daryl Dixon."

"Dammit, Carol," I got up and leaned on the railing. _Fuck it._ "Beth and I slept together," I confessed.

"I know."

I spun around and said, "What? You knew that I slept with her and you still had sex with me last night?"

"Yes. The fact that you slept with Beth doesn't change how I feel about you."

"It should. Carol, I can't say that I love you. I care about you, you're my closest friend, but I don't want to lie to you," I said. I really had no idea what to say, but that sounded closest to the thoughts that were clouding my buzzed head.

She nodded, and said, "Okay. Well good night." And then she was gone.

_FUCK. _I threw my empty bottle out into the yard, and it smashed into a million pieces. I was angry at myself, at Carol, at this whole goddamn thing. _What did I get myself into?_

CAROL

I'm not sure what I was expecting. I saw then that he had made it clear long ago that he wasn't interested, but I thought that maybe if I just kept at it, if I tried hard enough, that he would fall in love with me. Obviously, I was just delusional. After everything with Sophia, things were bad. But it had been years since then and things were good at the prison.

But I guess I had just been blind to the growing chemistry between him and Beth. When they found me, I could tell right away what I had missed. I just figured they had slept together. And then when I noticed the way he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, more shy than I'd ever seen him, I confirmed it.

Like I told Daryl, it didn't change the way I felt. I was still in love with him. _I'll just have to learn to live with that._ I sighed. _Because that's working out so well right now._

I curled up in my sleeping bag next to Beth and tried to sleep. Strangely, I felt no animosity toward the girl laying a foot from me. Well maybe a little. But she didn't know what I felt toward Daryl, and I can't blame her for wanting him too. I mean, honestly, who doesn't? _Alright if I don't stop thinking, I'm never getting to sleep. _I tossed and turned on the floor until finally I fell into a fitful sleep.

BETH

Being mad at Daryl was hard work. It had been a long week of short, awkward conversations and avoiding eye contact. Evidently something had happened with him and Carol too, because they were barely speaking either.

Make no mistake, I was angry at Carol too. But Carol wasn't the one that had slept with me, twice, and then got into bed pretty fast with someone else. But I mean, they were best friends, and it only made sense that eventually they would develop feelings for each other. I knew Daryl said it didn't mean anything, but it seemed like that was his "thing" lately. Doing things that didn't mean anything, saying things that he didn't mean. But that didn't make it hurt less.

What I didn't understand was why he and Carol weren't talking now. _Maybe he felt bad about it. Or he just told her about us. _That thought made my stomach flip a bit. _Maybe he does really care about me._ Or maybe I'm just delusional.

So I guess that being mad wasn't the problem; it was _staying_ mad that I had trouble with. Those moments when he would hold Judith and smile a little, I just wanted to forget everything. But I couldn't do that, because I wasn't about to let him win this silent war. He had to be the first to crack if he really cared about talking to me. I'd just content myself to waiting it out.

DARYL

I didn't know fear until I lived in close quarters with two on-edge women who know how to operate high powered rifles. I ain't afraid of much, but that was probably the most worried I'd been since this whole damn apocalypse started. Beth wouldn't speak to me, and Carol couldn't so much as glance at me. _I know I have to talk to one of them soon._ Maybe tonight. But right then, we were making a run out to the nearby pharmacy for more formula.

I found myself wishing I had my bike every damn day. It was faster and easier to drive on these narrow backroads. But that was left back at the prison, along with all of our other cars. At least some people had gotten out on the bus, but how many, I had no idea. _Damn. It's been like a month since it happened. Why am I even thinking like they're still alive?_ I glanced at Carol next to me. _But I guess we've made it so far. No reason why the others couldn't._

We made it to the pharmacy and got in and out with no problems. Other than the fact that Carol wasn't talking to me. I didn't know what I was going to say if I did talk to her though. She told me she loved me, and I didn't say it back. I mean, that's usually not what you wanna hear when you say that. But what the hell was I gonna say to her?

We still had one bottle of Jack left, and after this week, I knew what I would be doing tonight. When Carol said she'd take watch, I grunted an okay and took the bottle into the bedroom. I laid down on the ground in the middle of the room and took a long drink of the whiskey. I didn't think about anything, just drank the bottle down until there was half left. _What the hell man? I've never had a problem like this before. It was always just no-strings-attached shit, when chicks actually talked to a redneck like me. Now I have two beautiful women... Shit. It took the end of the world for someone to actually want me. _I let out a laugh that shook my chest. There was a quiet knock on the door then.

"Yeah?" I called out. The door opened and Beth poked her head in. She looked at me on the floor, sprawled out with my crossbow on one side and the bottle of alcohol on the other. I swear she almost cracked a smile- a cute, tiny smile- but then thought better of it. "Come 'ere," I said, sluggishly.

She rolled her eyes and shut the door on me. _Dammit._ I looked down at the almost empty bottle. _I'll deal with it tomorrow._ I took the last drink and pulled myself up into the bed.

When I woke up, it was bright out and the room looked different. Cleaner. _Huh. Maybe Carol had enough of the mess. _I rolled over and felt soft hair. I opened my eyes and saw Beth lying next to me. _Wait. She wasn't here last night, was she?_ She stirred at my movement and turned over toward me.

"Hey hun," she said, pulling me in for a sloppy kiss. I pulled away and looked at her confused. "What's the matter? Not up for it today?" She climbed on top of me and bit my neck playfully. _What the hell is going on? _Suddenly the door opened and Carol walked in. I was about to say that it's not what it looks like, although I wasn't really sure who I should be saying that to, when I realized that we were all buck naked. _Seriously what the fuck. _Carol came over and caressed my face. "Pooky, I thought you liked you it in the morning?" she asked, kissing me softly. Their bodies were like silk on my own body, and when Carol put my hands on her breasts, I didn't protest. My hungover brain didn't know what to think. They looked at each other and slid their way down my chest to the boner that I didn't actually know I had. They took turns sucking on my pulsing cock and although I was confused, I didn't want them to stop. Whatever the hell this was, I was gonna let it happen. I shut my eyes and groaned as one of them drug their hands down my thighs. I grabbed Beth's hair and pulled her back up to me, kissing her hard and positioning her body overtop of mine. She was about to come down on my rock solid member when I heard a loud thump on the door. I rolled over so I could see the door.

Suddenly I was on the floor. The room was dark again, and I opened my eyes to the old carpet. _Oh God where am I? _It all came rushing back: the group, the Jack Daniels, the dream. _It was a dream._ Part of me was relieved; the other part, I wasn't exactly proud of. I heard a tentative knock on the door, not exactly the loud thump that I had thought it was in the dream. I pulled myself up off the floor, and yanked the door open, annoyed; I was feeling the hangover now that I was really awake.

Beth stood right outside the door. She took in my awful appearance the same way she did last night, but this time she said, "Just thought you would wanna know breakfast is ready. But it looks like you've got something to deal with before you go down there." She scoffed at me. _Something to deal with?_ I guess I did need a shower pretty bad, and I could use a toothbrush, but what did she- _oh._ My thoughts stopped when I looked down and saw the raging morning wood I had. "Oh, yeah. I'll, uh, I'll be down in a minute." _Damn dream._ Now I had to decide whether I was gonna deal with this or just let it go away. But honestly, it had been a week since Carol and I. _Aw what the hell._ I realized that thought was one I said before a lot of the shit I did.

I took out my thick cock and let some spit fall down onto it. I grabbed it in my hand and pumped it fast. Pictures from my dream came to me: Beth sucking me off, Carol dragging her nails down my abdomen. _This is so wrong._ But boy did it feel right when I finally came into my hand, breathing heavily. I tucked myself back into my jeans and cleaned up before heading downstairs to breakfast.

I felt like both women just _knew_ about the dream, but maybe that was just paranoia. We ate in silence. Carol had made a big breakfast for us. That's why she was such an amazing woman. Even when she's sad or pissed off or annoyed, she'll still do nice things for me. Even when I'm a total asshole to her, she's always there. _Ugh. I need to talk to her._ She started to clean the dishes off, and I picked up the towel to help her. We worked in silence for a while. Finally I said, "Hey. Sorry about the other night."

"It's fine," Carol replied.

"Well. Okay," I said. _Well that worked out _great. _Shit._

BETH

_I wonder what Daryl was dreaming about this morning. _I was on watch for the night from the balcony. I let my mind wander to the past few months. The Governor was a madman. _I hope he got what he deserved._ That thought stopped me. I never would have wished death on somebody before this all happened. I was losing myself. I made a decision right then to forgive Daryl, because that's what the old Beth would do. I was not going to lose any more of myself in this strange world.

Suddenly I saw the rotted wooden fence at the far side of the yard start to shake. I leveled the sights of my gun on the spot, waiting to see what would appear from behind it. The thing ripped a hole in it and staggered through. It looked around, sniffing. I ducked behind the chair on the balcony and prayed the walker wouldn't be able to see me. It stumbled around the yard, turning away from me. _Now._ I waited a few seconds to see if there were more, but it looked like this guy was the only one.

I put down the shotgun and ran down the balcony steps. Dagger in hand, I snuck up behind the walker and readied my knife at its skull. It let out a roar and spun around, teeth chomping at me. I stabbed at the thing, but when it turned around, I lost my balance. I fell back hard on the grass and scrambled to find my footing again. The walker kept coming at me with its snapping jaws and dead eyes. I reached for my knife, but found that it was too far away. My back hit the fence. I kicked at the walker, hoping to slow it down. It grabbed my foot and pulled it with inhuman strength to its mouth. I screamed as loud as I could, and then I heard a gunshot. The walker fell in a heap on top of me. I threw its body off of me and staggered to my feet. Carol ran over to me and said, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. T-thanks. I thought I could get it on my own b-because it was just one, but I dropped my knife-"

"What the hell's going on?" Daryl came running out of the house.

"I-It was just one walker, and I tried to kill it, but I lost my balance and C-Carol shot it," I explained shakily.

"Well get the hell inside. That shot'll prob'ly bring every walker for a mile."

We ran inside and barricaded the door again. Carol took Judith and tried to calm her down while I got cleaned up. Daryl went around checking the doors and watched for more walkers. I washed my face and changed my shirt, which was covered in blood. I guess I still looked shaken up because when I came back out, Carol offered me her canteen and sat me down on the couch. Judith crawled into my lap and snuggled into the crook of my elbow; she was asleep in seconds. I leaned back and drifted into a fitful sleep with Carol next to me and Judy in my lap.

Hours later Daryl shook me awake. "What time is it?" I asked, stretching.

"Shh, we gotta go," he whispered, pulling me to my feet. Carol was gathering our stuff, and Jude was in her carrier.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I packed up what I could of our meager sleeping bags and clothes. It was dark, and I wondered absentmindedly why no one turned on any lights. _It has to be morning by now._ I pulled back the curtain of the front window and threw it shut again. _Oh, that's why._ There were hoards of walkers wandering around in the faint morning light. _The gunshot._ They must have shown up over night. That's when I heard a thump on the back door.

"Listen, we gotta move. They'll be in here in minutes. When I say, you run to the car. Don't stop for nothing, you hear me?" Daryl told us. "I'll shoot you a path, and then I'm right behind you."

"Daryl, no, you're not gonna be able take down all of them on your own. I'll help you and then get to the car," Carol argued. I looked outside through a crack in the curtain. There had to be at least ten walkers from here to the car, not to mention the 50 that were within ten feet of the car. I looked back at Daryl with his dark eyes and determined look. He looked down at me, then up at Carol and said, "Have a little faith," and headed to the door. "I got these fuckers."

"No she's right," I reached for his arm. "There's a hundred walkers out there. If one of them makes a sound, all of them will come down on us." I let go of his bicep, partly because I was supposed to be mad at him and partly because I needed the distance between us to think straight. "We gotta distract them."

"You got any ideas? Because we got about three minutes before those geeks knock down the back door," Daryl asked, clearly pissed that he couldn't just go out there and kill his way to the car.

Actually, I did have an idea. I ran to the kitchen and picked up the toaster. Obviously the power had long since died, but the toaster made for a pretty heavy paper weight. I ran back to the front room and shoved it at Daryl. "Throw this," I said. He stared at me for a second, and I said, "Geez, do I have to do everything?" I took his arm and dragged him into the living room. From here, there was a clear shot to the neighbor's front window. "Open the window and throw this at that window. The sound will distract them." Carol called from the front room, "Guys, we really have to do something!"

Daryl looked out the window, then slid it up just enough to get the toaster out. He cocked his arm back and aimed it at the house's window. It sailed through the air and crashed through the glass. The window shattered, and the few closest walkers turned toward it. They began staggering toward the broken glass. We ran to the front door and watched as they lurched to the house. We waited a few terrible seconds then pulled the door open and crept to the car. When one walker got too close to us, Daryl shot it in the eye and ripped the arrow out of its eye socket before diving into the car. Once we were all in, we slammed the doors, not caring how loud we were now because when the car's engine turned over and finally caught, every walker on the street turned to us. Daryl was behind the wheel, and he gunned it, not bothering to stop for the gate. We crashed through it and drove fast down the backroads, having no idea where we were going.

We lost the walkers after a while, but by then we had no idea where we were. We just kept driving. By midday, we were about ready to just find a place and sleep in the car. But it was late afternoon when we came up on a street barricaded with cinder blocks and sharpened two by fours. Daryl stopped the car, and he and Carol got out with their weapons ready. I watched as they snuck up to the barrier, and Daryl climbed up on top of the it. He laid on his stomach, knife between his teeth and crossbow aimed at whatever was hidden on the other side of the wall. Carol watched his back. _While I sit here in the car, helpless._

DARYL

This place looked like it'd been run over a few months ago. They had a decent barricade, and there sure were a lot of geeks walking around. A few were pretty close to where I was laying, and when one looked up and sniffed, I ducked my head and swore. I waited a minute, then stuck my head back up. It didn't look like there was a way to get in and stay safe. _Well, fuck._ I climbed back down, and we walked to the car.

"Looks like whoever was here put up a fight, but there's walkers everywhere now. We should keep moving," I said.

"Where are we gonna go? We have no idea where we are, and it'll be dark in an hour," Carol asked, glancing at the barricaded street.

"You go up there and tell me if you think there's a way in, alright?" I snapped at her. She turned away, and I looked at the two of them, tired and dirty and hungry. I sighed. "I mean, we can go around back of one of the stores, see how that is."

We got back in and drove behind what used to be a pharmacy. There was a fire escape to the second floor, so I climbed it first, Carol behind me. We went in one of the windows and stood with our backs together, scanning the rooms for walkers. It looked like it used to be an office, but there were makeshift beds against the walls. We didn't find anything, so we unloaded what we needed from the car into the room.

"Get some sleep. We gotta move in the morning," I told Beth and Carol. They laid down on the beds, and Beth made a bed next to hers for Ass Kicker.

I sat watch; I didn't like staying here. Too close to the things down there, and it was just plain depressing, watching them stumble around. Some of them still had guns strapped on their backs, knives in their belts, like they tried to fight as long as they could. I walked away from the window and settled in for the night.

I woke the girls up early, and we got on the road when the sun was just coming up. Beth offered to drive, probably because I hadn't got more than four hours of sleep in the last 48 hours. I laid in the back with Ass Kicker, but you gotta be kidding me if you thought I could actually sleep. Carol had the map; we found out that the town we were in last night was called Stevensville. She found it on the map, and said, "Well, we're about 90 miles from the prison."

It was weird that we still used the prison as a reference for where we were. _Habit I guess. _I leaned up on my elbows and said, "You wanna head back that way or…?" I asked. I hoped she got what I couldn't bring myself to say. _Or give up on the others._ Beth stared straight out the front windshield, but I knew it would hurt her something awful to leave the hope of finding her sister and the others behind.

"Well, it doesn't look like we have a choice," Carol said when we rounded the next corner and ran smack into a line of walkers. They snarled and reached for the car. Beth threw it in reverse and slammed into a group of them; she gritted her teeth and ran them over. I shot what I could from out the back windows. When we had backed up a good distance, she put it in drive and spun us around, racing down the road until the walkers were lost in the dust. We were coming up on a split in the road, and Carol yelled, "Go left!" Beth jerked the wheel and slowed down after that. We were pretty much in the clear, at least for now.

"Why did you tell me to go left?" Beth asked.

I answered before she could. "Because we're not giving up on the rest of them yet. We're gonna go back to that cabin and wait, as long as we have to. We're gonna check the prison every day. We _will_ find the others. And we'll build up our life just like we did before. We _will_ survive."


End file.
